The Stocks Everybody's Talking About Today

Breaking down the market's big stories.

The market was slightly down today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average(INDEX: ^DJI) and the S&P 500(INDEX: ^GSPC) both dropped 0.3%, and the Nasdaq(INDEX: ^IXIC) dropped 0.2%. No Dow component was up or down as much as 3%. With that as context, let's look at the stocks everybody was talking about.

Of course, the most popular stock on the block, Apple(Nasdaq: AAPL), made some news today. Folks are already lined up for Friday's iPhone 5 release, and preorders hit 2 million in the first 24 hours! Given the excitement in the actual market, Apple's shares hit new heights in the stock market. After hours today, shares hit $700. (For more on Apple's prospects, check out our premium Apple report.)

Everything's going well for Apple, but General Motors, Netflix(Nasdaq: NFLX), and Groupon didn't fare as well today.

GM has been trying to get the government to sell its remaining stake in the bailed-out carmaker. The Treasury, loath to take a loss on the shares, doesn't appear ready to sell at these prices. Shares fell 1.4% to $23.80, making the potential exit price that much less palatable.

Netflix shares dropped 5.8% to less than $60 a share as Macquarie research analyst Tim Nollen initiated coverage by rating Netflix an "underperform" (Wall Street-speakfor "sell"). He believes Netflix isn't in a good negotiating position versus the content providers it relies on.

Meanwhile, Groupon was down almost 10% today, as a survey of merchants showed some less-than-impressive results. Groupon's had a rough go of it. Today's price is under $5 a share, a far cry from a 52-week high of $31.14. That may sound tantalizingly cheap, but there's a lot to dislike about Groupon's business.